So, what do you do?
There’s a fun question. Part of the problem of being 1/2 web app developer, 1/2 “consultant” and 100% secretive is that I have an odd time putting what I do in reasonable language. At least I do when I am put on the spot.
I work as a company, Laudably, inc., Laudably is a face for most of my work and as a company it employs just me and I spend about the same amount on contracting out as I would on 1 fulltime employee. Under Laudably, I develop an app that right now we call “Sandbox”, but there will soon be a public release under the name “Firestoker”. The web-app is an internal tool for organizations.
Right now there are installs that have up to 160 users on them, and as few as 10 people. One of our clients will be moving to close to 400 users soon, so we are doing a lot of work on rebuilding the firestoker app, they have a roadmap that takes them to 800 of their subsidiaries, each of who have an average of 10-15 employees.
Enter the Trinity. Building software that changes an organization is a waste of time, unless you can guide your client through the cultural maze of this new world.
I also work as 1/3 partner of a consulting group called The Renewal Group, and that is made up of Rob Paterson from The Renewal Consulting Group (can you guess where we got the name?), and Kashmir Birk who runs The True North, who do a lot of Change Management consulting among other work.
As this group of three, we work with companies to help build a vision and strategy to break out of where they are, and we help them find a new directions. All of which is our way of helping executives shift decision making and power towards the outside of the organization to both employees and the customer, as we believe that this is where real knowledge and understanding exist.
Who hires us? It is no secret that we now work for NPR and several of it’s affiliate stations. We have also done a lot of work at The Pizza Delight Group and some of Canada’s largest universities and Banks. Of course, there are always a few clients you can’t talk about, and some you shouldn’t yet. The specifics of our work is always a little sensitive too.
What’s does the future hold? As the business of the trinity grows, we are seeing a lot of strength in our arms-length relationship. It is allowing us to focus strongly on what each of us is best at. I am moving more and more back towards building Firestoker, which is going to be a critical link in all of our work. Rob can return to thinking big and developing long-term goals and strategies and Kashmir is able to focus on (what I think are) his real strength: seeing where change needs to happen most, and working behind the lines to jumpstart it.
To be honest, I can’t cover our little world in one blog post, but this is a glimpse. In posts to come, I will talk about how we work together, and the kind of people we will need to work with us in the future (soon!).
Comments
One Response to “So, what do you do?”
[...] We are in Philadelphia this week running a mini unconference about the future of Public Radio here in the US. We have been doing these all over the states for our client as we tap the Wisdom of Crowds to help a big organization make smart, nimble, decisions. It’s our hope that the Public Radio system as a whole can be part of those decisions and changes. [...]